


Silence isn´t always golden

by NYWCgirl



Category: Traveler
Genre: Alternate Ending, Broken Bones, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Serious Injuries, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 03:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14633241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: Jay hides the fact that he was injured when he fell from the taxi from his friends





	Silence isn´t always golden

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for the May Challenge of H/C Bingo. Challenge was to write a fic for a small fandom. Prompt was hiding an injury.

Jay quickly cuts through the wire fence of the police impound terrain. This was a stupid idea. He still can’t believe he is doing this. He is a graduated law student. He imagined himself becoming a lawyer or a prosecutor, starting his life with his girlfriend. Not being accused of a bombing and breaking into a police impound.

The red SUV is waiting on a flatbed, ready to be taken away, but the place is filled with cops and Jay can feel his heart hammering in his chest. He takes a deep breath and checks out the car again. He just needs to get to the car without any of the cops seeing him. Once upon the flatbed, he opens the rear door and slips into the car.

When he realizes the driver is on his way, he lays flat in the back. He realizes too late that the driver is ready to drive off. When the truck engine starts, Jay realizes he is stuck and he needs to come up with a plan, quickly.

They need the painting, so he hurries to cut open the upholstery while the truck is leaving the terrain.

A couple of tugs rips open the upholstery. Jay can´t believe his eyes. The painting is here. Quickly recovering, he rolls up the painting.

Now all he has to do is get out of here and back to Tyler and Will who are hopefully following him. He pops open the trunk and shimmies out of the SUV. The speed of the flatbed surprises him and he hesitates. In the movies, this always looks easy but the speed of the truck makes him all too aware of his vulnerability. He looks behind him and can see that Tyler is driving behind him, so that is a reassurance, he just has to get off the truck.

He is still looking for the right moment, when the driver notices him in his side mirror. The man startles and hits the breaks, catapulting Jay forward. Not prepared for the sudden change in speed, Jay loses his hold and is thrown on the back of a yellow cab. His momentum carries him over the trunk, he rolls over it and smacks into the pavement.

There is screeching of tires but he is too dazed to react. The breath is knocked out of him and he is stunned. He knows he has to get up and move, but his limps are not cooperating.

Suddenly arms around his midsection pull him to his feet and he is dragged into the waiting car.

‘Get up, come on, come on,’ is all he hears.

Unceremoniously he is pushed onto the backseat and the car speeds off. He tries to catch his breath while he stays down on the backseat. He can feel Will taking the painting from his hands. He somehow managed to keep it on him.

‘You did good Jay, I can´t believe you pulled it off.’

Jay stays silent. Pain radiates from his chest. He probably busted a rib or sprained some muscles.

‘Jay, are you alright?’

‘Yes, just give me a minute.’

‘Stay down and rest. We have some driving to do.’

 

* *  *

Jay wakes, because he shaken.

‘What?’

‘We arrived. Get out, we need to get rid of this car.’

It is only now that Jay realizes the engine if turned off. He nods and slowly extracts himself from the car. He groans when pain shoots through him. He quickly suppresses another groan and joins Tyler and Will who are looking at the painting on the hood of the car. They are in an empty underground parking. Jay has difficulty focusing on the discussion between the two. His ribs are throbbing and the pain increases when he breaths in.

They finally agree on a course of action and Jay is relieved when Wills tells them they need to move. He volunteers to sit in the back so he can rest, standing near the car has exhausted him. As soon as the car starts, he gives in the exhaustion and pain.

 

* *  *

 

Don’t you think he looks pale, Tyler asks glancing over his shoulder. Jay seems to be sleeping, but his breathing is irregular and he seems gaunt.

Will shakes his head, ‘he’s fine.’

They continue driving to a safe place where they can call without raising suspicion. Tyler is not reassured by Will’s diagnoses. He wonders whether Jay maybe got hurt when he feel from the taxi. He didn´t say anything, but still.

‘We’re here, park the car over there.’

Tyler does as Will asks and quickly shakes Jay awake, he seems a bit disoriented, but quickly recovers. He makes a mental note to check out Jay later. They now need to focus on the call they are going to make.

Will picks up the phone and punches in a number.

‘I have the painting.’

Tyler tries to follow the conversation but it is a bit hard when you can only follow one side of the conversation.

‘I want an exchange.’

Will answers a couple of times with yes and then a time and place is set. Washington Park, one hour.

The guys are so focused on the meet that nobody notices the flush creeping on Jay’s cheeks or his shallow breathing.

 

* *  *

 

Their plan to extort a confession out of Freed goes without a hitch. But when Jay reaches up to take the camera they used to tape the confession, pain stabs through him. He realizes this is more than some strained muscles, but they can’t get sidetracked, not now. They need to focus. He will seek medical attention when this is over. Once they get Freed and his confession to the media, their names will be cleared and he will be able to rest and heal. It won’t be long anymore.

He lets Will and Tyler manhandle Freed into the car and they drive off to a newspaper. They leave the car in front of the building and make their way to a telephone booth across the street where Will makes the phone call.

‘They’re on their way down.’

‘Okay, so if this works and the story gets out, then what?’

‘Then we keep telling people. It’s going to take a lot of convincing.’

The sound and the pressure wave of the blast takes them by surprise and the three of them stare in disbelief at the flame engulfed car.

Will is the first to recover and to tell them to run. Jay is still to shocked and just does what he is told. Their chance to clear their names just went up in flames.

Once again, Jay finds himself in the back of a fleeing vehicle. But the adrenaline rush is fading and the stabbing pain and exhaustion are clawing at his consciousness. His breathing is getting more labored and black spots are dancing in his peripheral sight.

‘Tyl…’

He panics when he realizes something is seriously wrong.

‘Tyler, I…’ he wheezes.

‘Not now Jay, we need to get out of here.’

Jay nods, trying to control his breathing, but for some reason he can´t and his vision is tunneling. He is sure that he needs help. With the strength he has left, he grabs Tyler´s arm, who looks back.

‘Something’s wrong.’ He stammers, just before the world tilts and goes away all together.

 

* *  *

 

‘Fuck Jay!’ Tyler cries out when Jay’s eyes roll back and he goes limp.

‘Will, something’s wrong, Jay lost consciousness.’

‘Check for a pulse.’

Tyler’s trembling hands need a couple of tries, but there it is.

‘I can feel it, but it is faint. Will, his lips are blue.’

‘Breathe Tyler. Keep it together, OK? Just keep checking whether he keeps breathing. We need distance now. When we are in the clear, I will have a look at him.’

‘Look at him? Will, he needs a hospital.’

‘We can’t go to a hospital. We are fugitives Tyler. I will have a look at him.’

‘Come on Jay, wake up.’

After a couple of tries, Jay is more lucid, not as much as Tyler would prefer, but it is better than nothing.

By the time they stop at a house Will picked, Jay is no longer coherent and Tyler and Will carry him in. The house is kept, so the owners are probably out of town. Lucky for them, there is a bed downstairs. Once they have Jay in the bed, he has lost conscious once again. Will quickly lifts his shirt and Tyler holds his breath when he sees the large bruise on Jay’s chest.

‘He probably broke a rib when he felt from the car.’

Will nods, ‘he probably punctured a lung. I can cut a hole in his chest, well, it needs to be in the fifth intercostal space. Do we have a clean piece of tubing?’

‘What? Wait, the fifth what?’

‘The fifth intercostal space, it is the place between the fifth and sixth ribs. You find me clean tube.’

‘No Will, we can’t do this on our own.’

Will stares at Tyler, clearly wanting to argue, but he rethinks his strategy.

‘You are right, he will probably need oxygen as well. You stay with him, I will be back.’

‘Wait, where are you going?’

‘We passed a nursing home a couple of miles ago. They have less security, but they have medical equipment. You try to find out how long the owners are gone.’

‘Why?’

‘Once we put the drain in, Jay can´t be moved for a couple of days.’

Tyler nods and tells Will to go get the supplies. Once Tyler has driven off, he starts to check the kitchen. There is a calendar and there are several marks, and by the looks of it, the owners of the house are gone for another six days. He goes back to Jay when he hears a groan.

‘Hey Jay, relax, we are safe.’

He can see Jay is fighting for breath and he doesn´t like the paleness and the still blue lips.

‘Will is getting supplies and will be right back. Do you want something?’

Jay shakes his head slowly and it is clear he is in severe pain. When he coughs, Tyler is shocked to see the spray of blood that accompanies it. Jay looks at him with wild eyes.

‘It’s OK Jay, we will take care of you. I…’

He is saved for finishing his sentence, because at that very moment Will walks in. By the looks of it, he raided the place.

‘Good to see you awake Jay.’

Will puts down the supplies and tells Tyler to get the rest.

‘Ok Jay, I am not going to lie to you, this is going to hurt, so I got some pain killers and I will give it to you. Do you trust me to do this. We can’t go to a hospital, you do understand that, don’t you?’

Jay nods, ‘yeah, I do. I do trust you to take care of me.’

‘Good, once Tyler gets all the supplies, I will cut a hole in your ribcage, so we can drain air and fluids, it will make you feel better and breathing will be easier, OK.’

Will shakes a couple of pills from a bottle and grinds them, adding some water before holding the spoon out to Jay.

‘They are pain meds, they will make you feels sleepy and they will take the edge off. This way you can keep laying down.’

Jay takes the spoon and eats the paste. Will attaches a breathing mask to a small bottle of oxygen. He opens the bottle and puts the mask over Jay’s face.

‘Try to take deep breaths Jay.’

Will can see Jay nods weakly and his eye lids are drooping. Will quickly prepares everything and disinfects Jay’s chest.

‘Jay, we are ready, OK, this will briefly hurt, but then you will be able to breathe better, OK?’

Jay gives a weak nod and closes his eyes completely.

Tyler turns away and Will quickly makes the cut and pushes in the tube, which he attaches to a pleural-evac. He had been thinking how he was going to create enough negative pressure for the chest tube, but he will use a hand pump and see how they will cope.

Jay only moaned, but he is quite out of it. Once the tube is taped in, Will checks Jay’s temperature which is elevated. He then starts pumping. They will need antibiotics, to prevent infections. But it will have to wait. They will now have to wait how Jay is fairing on his own.

Tyler left the room and found some cans of soup which he heated. He re-enters the room with two bowls and hands one to Will, who starts eating one handed and pumps. They don’t talk, each man trying to make sense of what happened and what their new course of action will be. They will just need to lay low, giving Jay time to heal and figure out a new strategy.

 


End file.
